A Guide to San Diego Neighborhoods

Like many large U.S. cities, San Diego is divided into neighborhoods, each with a distinct character of its own. Here is a sampling of the local neighborhoods you can discover during CEC 2015:

Core District

San Diego City Hall

The Core is the economic center of San Diego as it is home to the financial and judicial areas of the city as well as several large entertainment venues and restaurants. It is the most central of all the downtown districts, located two blocks from the Santa Fe Depot train station. The San Diego Civic Theatre and historic Copley Symphony Hall bring a variety of arts and cultural events and many of the historic buildings are being restored to add new residential and retail space.

East Village
At the center of this district is PETCO Park, the San Diego Padres’ baseball stadium. It was traditionally a series of warehouses and vacant lots until the 1990s when it became a community for artists and social services. After the opening of PETCO Park, the area was redeveloped and it is now known for its upscale restaurants and trendy shops.

Gaslamp Quarter

This area is the hub of San Diego’s nightlife scene with more than 100 of the city’s finest restaurants, pubs, nightclubs, and retails shops. You can spend an entire day shopping at a trendy boutique or in the multi-level outdoor mall, Horton Plaza, or get your culture on in one of the many theatre, art gallery, and museum options.

Little Italy

This district was originally settled by Italian families working in the tuna fishing industry. Even though it has been greatly gentrified over the generations, you can still hear Italian spoken on the streets and it is littered with Italian restaurants, retail shops, design stores, and art galleries. Little Italy is one of the more active downtown neighborhoods and has frequent festivals and events including a weekly farmers market called the Mercato.

Marina District

The surrounding area of the Marina District includes Seaport Village, restaurants, small harborside parks, and the Tuna Harbor where small commercial fishing boats dock. The San Diego Convention Center, where CEC 2015 is being held, is on the border of the districts. The Marina District is also the most residential and “exclusive” of the downtown districts with a surprisingly quiet atmosphere among its many condominium buildings there.

And there’s more — this doesn’t even begin to cover what San Diego and its neighborhoods have to offer! Visit www.sandiego.org to get more information on the city.